Howdy all. I'm taking an ethics in nursing and healthcare class this term, and one of our assignments is to present and then analyze an ethical dilemma we or a fellow nurse has faced. The most commonly used example is the conflicts that arise with end of life decision making (e.g. family wants this, pt never said what she wanted, practitioners recommend this). I've yet to run up against something of the sort myself, but I would be eternally grateful if one of you seasoned nurses would share an experience you've faced that I could then pick apart. Thanks for reading :)
lauren
My patient was a former drug user, now cleaned up and sober. Comes to the hospital brain dead with contusions, new bruises, lacerations, etc all over her body. Husband say she fell in the bathtub and he found her unconscious and that she is using drugs. He calls 911 and gets her brought in. We do a UDS (urine drug screen) and it's positive but the ME will not examine her unless her serum is positive because positive urine just means past drug use not recent. Husband continues to deny any involvement with her current status altho he acts very suspicious and wants us to pull the plug on her as fast as he can make it happen. Her family does not want this to happen because they strongly suspect him of foul play. I get the doctor to order serum drug testing but results take 72 hours to get back. In those 72 hours the patient was declared brain dead and removed from life support. Because we did not have the serum lab tests back yet the ME would not examine the body. Unfortunately, two days after she died we got the positive serum results back but could not do anything about it at that time. I fee certain that the husband got away with murder.
Wow. That must have been very difficult for you to watch. Thank you for taking the time to share :)
